I Was Pranked By Muhammed Ali

In 1993, I was a page at NBC in New York. Most of the job was to give tours of the building and seat audiences at TV shows. A small part of the job was much more complicated. Shooing Al Roker from the cafeteria buffet. I'm kidding. Al was then and is always permitted to eat all he cares to. Where was I? Oh yes, another job of the NBC Page was to stand outside of 30 Rock, waiting for limos with celebrities inside... and then escort the celebrity into the building, through the maze of tourists, past security, to whatever program they were to appear on.

A notice to all you kids reading this, back then, escorting celebrities through buildings was what a degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont prepared me for.

On morning in particular, my assignment was to wait in front of the building and escort Muhammed Ali to the green room of The Today Show.

On nearly any other day, 30 Rock is pretty quiet at 6am. I know this, because I also once waited outside to greet the actress Shelly Winters, who arrived two hours early because that's how long it took the Today Show make up artists to apply the pully & winch system that held up her face underneath her wig.

Anyway, on the morning of Ali's arrival, nearly a hundred NBC employees lined the halls and corridors... just to catch a glimpse of the most famous man alive.

A few minutes prior to Ali's segment, we're in the make-up room and the stage manager motioned for me to bring him into the studio. I escorted him down the hall, opened the studio door and we stood in the dark wings. I stood closer to the stage... Ali stood behind me.

By this time, the Parkinsons had robbed him of some of his magic and charisma. But not entirely, as I was soon to discover.

So, there I am, standing in the wings of the Today Show, Bryant Gumble is on set, and The Greatest is just 2 or 3 feet behind me. Suddenly, I feel a flick on my lower ear.

I turn around.

Muhammed Ali stands motionless, hands at his side. He's expressionless. And not because of the illness.

So, I turned back.

A moment or two later, there it is, again. I feel another flick of my lower right ear lobe. Again, I turn around. And again, Ali stands motionless.

Inside I'm beaming. Outside, I play my part: befuddled.

Moments later, Bryant Gumble throws to commercial and the stage manager motions for Muhammed Ali to walk the few feet from the wings onto the Today Show set.

Ali walks around my left side... and before he stepped from the darkness of the wings into the light of the stage, he turns back, leans in -- his head and mouth are just 3 or 4 inches from my right ear -- and he whispers in his unmistakable voice -- gravely, but still iconic: "You had a bug on your ear. A bug on your ear."

Outside, I laugh appropriately. Inside I know this is a story I'll tell for the rest of my life.

Jon Hotchkiss hosts the new series that's "The Daily Show meets Popular Science," Be Less Stupid .